VB small businesses reveling in post-COVID boom
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Shops, hotels and other places where tourists spend their money are doing well in Virginia Beach. With the Shamrock Marathon starting this weekend, local businesses are getting ready for the 2024 season to fire up.
Morgan Corrado, owner of Perked Up Coffee Cafe, can be seen hard at work with her staff baking in preparation for the holiday weekend — and for marathon goers. They are expecting a surge in customers.
Road closures expected during VB Shamrock Marathon Weekend
Corrado said they weathered through COVID, but states that tourists and customers have started to return.
“It’s just been really steady,” Corrado said. “So I think that with the increase of the tourism, I think it’ll be substantially busier than last year or any years of the past before COVID.”
The numbers show overall revenue in Virginia Beach is already beating pre-pandemic numbers. The city pulled in $3.7 billion dollars in 2022, recently highlighted at the state of the city address. It is estimated to be $300 million more than the previous year. This stomps pre-pandemic revenue, beating 2019 by about $430 million.
With business booming in recent years, Coastal Edge president D. Nachnani told 10 On Your Side just one thing gets in the way.
“The only thing that slows us down is the weather,” Nachnani explained. “The hurricanes, the earthquakes, the slow part of tourism. If we get good weather, we’re like farmers. Our crops will grow well and our business will go well.”
When asked how he thinks the 2023 numbers will look, Nachnani thinks the bad weather days they endured that year made an impact on revenue. Even with the weather, he believes the many events throughout the city could make up for those losses.
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